Kamen Rider X Kamen Rider - Xtreme & W: Connected Memories
by guncannon109
Summary: My tribute to the end of the Heisei Era of Kamen Rider, and the tenth anniversary of Kamen Rider W the series that started it all for me. Ten years after the end of W and six years after the end of Xtreme, fate pulls strangers together as a threat emerges greater than any one rider to take on alone.


**Prelude: Ten Years Down the Road**

In the middle of a seemingly calm night in a prison on the outskirts of Ardent City, Rylee Damon sat on her bed within her detention block peacefully reading a book.

"Rylee," Zix walked by with a yawn, getting onto her own bed, "warden says lights out."

"Pity," Rylee sighed, placing a bookmark on her page before closing her book. "Guess I'll finish it tomorrow," she yawned, placing her book on a nearby night stand as she laid herself down.

"Can't believe I'm still here," Zix shook her head from atop her bed, the overhead lights going out while Rylee got under her covers, "and all cause I clocked that idiot Fury in the head."

"What's done is done Zix," Rylee sighed as she closed her eyes, "nothing we can do about it now."

Just as Rylee was about to fall asleep, the cry of thunder roared from all around her as lightning broke the sky. Rylee and Zix both gasped, shooting up to find a hooded figure in a golden cloak standing in the center of the room.

Neither Rylee or Zix could move, Rylee being only able to shift her gaze to notice that none of the other inmates had woken up.

"What the hell?!" She screamed in her head. Her eyes locked up a staff the figure gripped in his hand, the head of which bore the likeness of a gaia memory marked with an M. "A dopant?! Here?!" She trembled in place.

The figure's staff illuminated as six blank gaia memories emerged from his staff and floated in place around the dopant. With a snap of his fingers, four of the memories shot up through the floor and ceiling while the two that remained flew over to Zix and Rylee.

The two women gasped, unable to move as the memories drove themselves into the skin of their targets. "SPITE!" roared the memory that went into Rylee as it became gold, "MAJOR!" roared the memory that went into Zix, becoming a sickly purple.

The bodies of Rylee and Zix contorted and shifted, the women convulsing on their beds as they reverted into the green demonic witch and large purple bear forms they once possessed.

The cloaked dopant then raised his staff, a gold aura surrounding himself and the newly reborn dopants before the three of them lifted off the ground. Phasing through the ceiling, the dopant ascended with Spite and Major until he stood on the roof of the prison.

Touching down, he held his staff up as Major and Spite touched down on the roof as well. He didn't yet lower his staff however as the blue bear Minor, the silver human weapon Shredder, the green demon brute Crave and the red demon Fury flew up from the roof as well.

Once all the reborn dopants were on the roof, they looked to the cloaked dopant with a snarl coming from each of them.

"A small initial force… but it will have to do," huffed the hooded dopant. He snapped his fingers, a portal opening up behind each reborn dopant. On the hooded dopant's commander, each reborn dopant stepped into the portal as it closed behind them.

Within the confines of Hikari Studios, Natsumi's grandfather walked up to painting on the wall.

"Alright, it is time to depart for the next world," He said with a smile on his face, Tsukasa, Natsumi, Yuusuke and Kaito gathering in a line in front of the scroll as the old man began to pull on the cord to pull down the next painting.

Yuusuke let out a hopeful sigh as he donned a grin, "I wonder what this next one will be."

"Whatever it is," Kaito smirked, crossing his arms, "there will certainly be treasure."

Natsumi and Yuusuke gave Kaito a look, Tsukasa keeping his eyes on the painting as it came down. The young man could only make out a dark sky however as the painting fell to the ground as if it had been cut from the top.

Everyone gasped, Yuusuke running to the window to look outside. "Old man…" he muttered, "we haven't gone anywhere."

The old man shuttered, stared at the painting as it lay rolled up on the floor, "What is going on?" He muttered to himself.

Kaito and Tsukasa grabbed the painting, unrolling it onto the floor to see what it was. The image they were greeted to made everyone's blood run cold. On the canvas in front of the darkened sky sat the hooded gold cloaked dopant atop a throne made from broken kamen rider helmets, gripping his staff in one hand as the elements of wind, ice, earth and fire swirl around the palm of his other hand.

"Old man," Tsukasa looked to Natsumi's grandfather, "what is this?"

"I don't know.." he told him, "but there's something, or someone, who does not want us entering this world."

Deep within Helheim Forest, Kouta Kazubara walked under the canopy of trees lined with a peaceful grin on his face as he looked upon a cluster of zippers that were opened to various points of the world.

A loud crack echoed throughout the forest, Kouta's grin fading to a more serious tone as his gaze darted around the tree line. Suddenly, the zippers in front of him began to rattle which drew his attention forward as the zippers closed before shattering to pieces.

Kouta gasped, reaching his hand out to open another zipper only for nothing to open. "What?..." he muttered, pulling his hand back as his gaze shifted to the trees around him, "What's happening?"

Back on earth in a park in Japan, Haruto Souma stood before the donut van he frequent with a smile on his face and his Driver On ring adorning his finger.

"Ha-ru-to!" sang Yu the donut lady as she popped her head up from behind the van's counter, holding a plate out to him with an assortment of donuts, "I have a new set of specials for you to try." She held out the plate, showing a donut covered in purple and green frosting going up in a spiral with that was covered in red sprinkles, another that was red with chunks of sugar molded in the shape of steam and feathers woven in with and a third which was navy and cyan with dog bone shaped sprinkles. "I call it the collected memory special," she said with a smile.

"Hmm, interesting…" Haruto leaned in, getting a good look at them, "alright."

Yu's face lit up, "So does that mean you're going to have…?"

Haruto nodded, clapping his hands together, "One plain sugar please." He placed his hands on his hips.

Yu's lower lip began to quiver, the woman dropping the entire trey onto the ground. Haruto simply looked down, raising a brow in confusion.

Moments later, Haruto stood up from cleaning up the spilled donuts as walked away from the van. He gave a wave to Yu with one hand before taking a bite of his donut with the other. The ringed wizard then looked to a nearby burger van that a young punkish looking man was currently walking away from with two huge bags clenched in his fists.

"Nitou!" Haruto called up to him, "I'm going to find somewhere to sit down."

"HANG ON HARUTO!" huffed the ancient wizard as he trudged along to his ringed wizard friend, "You know I get weak before lunch time!"

Yu let out a defeat huff as she watched the men walk off, leaning forward and resting her chin in the palm of her hand. The back of the burger van opened up and a young woman with short blond hair covered in sweat stepped out and began fanning herself with her hat in the shape of a burger while leaning her hand on Yu's own van.

"How much did Nitou order today?" Yu looked to the burger lady.

The burger lady smirked as she watched Nitou walk away, "One of everything on the menu, with extra mayo."

"Zuri!" Groaned Yu as she ran her hands through her hair, "how do you do it?"

"I just give him exactly what he wants," Zuri told her with a wink as she put her hat back on, "that's the way to do it."

The two women stared at one another, Yu about to speak when a cold wind rushed over them. "What the.." They both held down their hats, gasping when they looked forward to see that Haruto and Nitou had vanished. Yu climbed out from her van, running with Zuri to where Haruto's donut and Nitou's bag of burgers had been left lying on the ground.

"Zuri…" muttered Yu as she picked up Haruto's donut, her hands trembling around it, "what's going on?"

Zuri gripped Nitou's burger bag, her gaze falling to the ground where what looked like claw marks had been carved into the brick. "I... " she gulped, her hand coiled in a tight nit fist, "I don't know."

In the teacher's lounge of AWHS, a tall woman of color sat hunched over her desk glaring at several papers all marked as failing or just barely passing.

"Ugh… I don't know what to do with these kids," she huffed, taking a swig of her coffee.

"Ayame," sang Gentaro Kisaragi as he came in, sitting down beside her with his own papers as he started marking them, "how has this morning been treating you?"

"Not good…" she huffed, the sight of Gentaro bringing the slightest sign of a grin to her face, "most of my class is failing."

"Uh oh…" Gentaro stopped grading, leaning back into his chair and scratching his head while letting out a yawn, "that doesn't sound good at all."

"Well, must be the batch. How are yours?" She eyed his papers, her eyes shooting open as she saw nothing but passing grades. "No way," she grabbed the pages, shifting through them only to realize she wasn't seeing things. "Gentaro," she looked to the man beside her only to see that he had fallen asleep in his chair. She glared, standing up and slamming her hand and the papers down on Gentaro's desk, "MR KISARAGI!"

"YES!" Gentaro snorted, his eyes shooting with a jump. He was about to fall out of his chair but caught himself at the last possible second. He blinked, looking up to Ayame with a grin, "Yes?"

Ayame had a defeated look on her face, sitting back down into a slump on her chair as she let out a huff, "Gentaro… how do you do it?"

"Do what?" Gentaro perked up a brow.

"Not have a pile of failing students on your desk," she confirmed, staring at her papers.

"Oh.. that?" He placed his hand to his chin then gave it some thought. "Well I start by not being a teacher, but a friend to all my students."

"A friend?" Ayame asked, looking back to him.

Gentaro grinned then nodded, "So long as you friends with someone, there is always a way to bring out the best of them."

Ayame grinned, then she blushed, "I.. I guess you're right." She closed her eyes and bowed to the male, "thank you, Gentaro." There was a long pause, Ayame opening her eyes and raising her head up only to see that the chair in front of her was empty and Gentaro was nowhere to be found. She gasped, shooting up from her chair as her eyes darted around the room, "Gentaro?" She called out in a panic, "Mr Kisaragi?!"

Eiji and Hina stood just outside Cous Coussier, Eiji looking up to the sign of the restaurant he once called home with a smile on his face and his satchel slung over his shoulder.

"It's nice to be home again," Hina grinned herself, looking over to Eiji as she took hold of his hand, "isn't it?"

Eiji looked to her and nodded. "It sure is," he said before turning his gaze to the right where a newly revived Ankh sat perched atop a male box, the red bird glaring at a heavyset woman in a blue dress with matching blue hair, "especially with friends old and new with me."

"Eiji, the sentiment I'll handle," Ankh huffed as he got up and looked at the other male, motioning to the blue haired girl over his shoulder, "but we aren't seriously keeping the king's watchdog, are we?"

"Ankh, be nice to Fae," Eiji gave Ankh a look. "If it weren't for her, you wouldn't be here."

Ankh shot another glare at Fae, then sucked his teeth and looked away from her with his gaze to the ground.

"Fine, do what you want," Ankh let out a sigh as he walked to the door with a finger pointed at Eiji, "but not before getting me those ice candies you promised. Premium."

Eiji, Hina and Fae just stared as Ankh pushed through the door of the restaurant and went inside without another word.

"Sorry about him," Hina let out a heavy sigh, placing a hand on Fae's shoulder before looking her in the eye, "if there's anything you need, just ask okay?"

Fae turned to face Hina with a grin, then blinked in confusion, "Eh?" She pointed to Eiji, "but I thought it was my job to serve the king.. and you are his queen, yes?"

Hina's eyes shot open, her face turning bright red as she looked over to Eiji. Her heart began to pound hard in her chest the moment Eiji looked back to her with the exact same expression. The male then gulped, looking down to the ground as he placed his hands on Fae's shoulders.

"Queen is.. A strong word to use right now," he said, managing to look up at Fae with a calmed down expression. "Hina is very important to me, yes. But you do not need to serve her, or even me. I want to be your friend Fae, nothing more."

"Oh… okay," Fae grinned, then nodded, "Fae will be friends with the king."

"Eiji," the male rider corrected her, "just call me Eiji."

"King Eiji, understood," Fea nodded again. "You know, you're far more diplomatic than the last king."

"Well, I try," Eiji managed a laugh, stepping away from Fae and crossing his while maintaining eye contact with her. "Now then, as your friend, what can I get for you?"

"I'd like some soda please," Fae told them simply.

Eiji and Hina both in unison raised a brow. "Eh?" they cocked their heads to the side.

With a blink, Fae's gaze shifted between Eiji and Hina, "I like the bubbles."

"Okay, I'll get your soda right away," Eiji said as he hurried Fae through the door.

Moments later, after the lunch rush had left, Hina found herself resting her head on the front counter looking at Ankh who sat at one of the back tables eating an ice candy with his feet up. Her gaze was however caught momentarily by Eiji waving to her, holding a pair of underwear in his hand with a grin on his face. Hina waved back to Eiji before he headed upstairs.

"So, you and Eiji seem to be closer," Chiyoko chimed in as she came up beside Hina, "did something happen while you were away?"

Hina blushed, avoiding eye contact with Chiyoko, "It's a long story. Maybe later, okay?"

"I see," Chiyoko grinned, eyeing Ankh just as Fae came up to the table he sat at while sipping her soda. "What about them? Are they getting along fine?"

Hina shook her head, "Ankh can't stand Fae it seems."

"Oh?" Chiyoko perked up a brow, looking over to the dog and the bird greeeds with a look of concern, "Why's that?"

"That's also a long story," Hina sighed.

Over at the table, Ankh glared at Fae who smiled back at him. "Pretty bird," she chirped, patting him on the head. Ankh swatted her hand away, causing Fae to jump back. Staring in shock for a moment, she only seconds later simply shrugged before going back to sipping her soda.

Fae giggled as the bubbles ran over her tongue, Ankh sucking his teeth before whipping his head over to the side to avoid looking at her.

He bit his ice candy, swallowing it before speaking up. "So, watchdog…" he glanced over to Fae, "what is it you want?"

"To serve the king, and be your friend," Fae told him.

"And after that?" he raised a brow at her, "do you plan to kill us and take all we have in the name of your king once we think you're on our side?"

Fae blinked, raising a brow of her own in confusion, "But I am on your side… aren't I?"

Ankh laughed, slamming a hand down on the table before shooting to his feet and looming over her. "You expect me to buy that? I know what you are, watchdog."

Fae simply stared at him for a good while, then took another sip of her soda. "And I know what you are, pretty bird," she said, placing her glass down on the table. "You and I, we might just be the only greeed left in the world…" she extended a hand to Ankh, "So, doesn't it make sense for us to be friends?"

Ankh stared at the hand of the dog greeed, raising his own. Before he could do anything with it, a loud thud and a crash erupted from upstairs. Ankh, Hina, Chiyoko and Fae all turned their gaze to the stairs.

"Eiji," Ankh muttered under his breath, bolting to the stairs.

He darted up them and down the hall like a bullet, the others following close behind the bird greeed as he came to the door of the room he once lived in and slammed it open. "EIJI!" he called out, only to gasp when he found the entire room in ruin.

Furniture had been flipped, the floors torn up by claw marks and the paint on the walls had been burnt away. Ankh's eyes shot open, the greeed falling to his knees as the others came to the door.

"Ankh!" Hina called out, "What happened-" she froze, her entire body trembling as she looked into the room and saw what had become of it. "No…" her stumbled back, placing her hands over her mouth. Chiyoko caught her, tears beginning to run down Hina's face.

"Ankh?" Fae poked her head in, looking around the room, "Where's the king? Is he alright?"

"You…" Ankh snarled, clawing his way to his feet. His right arm took on its greeed form as he slammed his open hand on the wall behind Fae, pinning her to the wall as a result of how he stood over her. "Awful funny how the moment we come home with you, THIS happens," he growled, shooting a glare down at her, "Isn't it, watchdog?!"

"I…" she trembled, looking down at the floor, "it wasn't me…"

"THEN WHO!" Ankh barked, "Who could it have been, if not you?!"

"Ankh!" Barked Hina, threw a weak punch at Ankh. "She didn't do it…" she fell into Ankh, resting her forehead on Ankh's shoulder. "She couldn't have…" She managed those words the sobbed into the greeed's arm.

As the woman's tears hit his arm, Ankh stared at her then slowly turned his gaze to the dog he held in his grasp. He then, without a word, stumbled away from her. He took in a deep breath, exhaled, then punched the nearby wall before reverting his hand to its human appearance.

"Damn it," he ran his hands through his hair before sitting down on a nearby chair.

Fae looked to Hina and Ankh, watching them quietly for a moment before she opened her mouth. "I-I can track him…" she muttered.

Ankh paused, looking up at Fae with a narrowed gaze, "What was that?"

"The king, Eiji," she confirmed, "I can track him, wherever he went."

Ankh got back up onto his feet. "Then get started," he demanded, "watchdog."

W (Shredder)

On a bright sunny day In the Narumi Detective Agency, Shotaro Hidari sat at his desk in the back of his office. His hat hung on a hook and his hands over the keys of his typewriter.

"Tatsuki was found, the Slug dopant defeated," he said in his head as he typed away, eyeing a woman with long brown hair in a black dress covered in cherries. In the woman's lap was a young boy, no older than three, with a short head of hair the same color as the woman who held him and Shotaro's eyes. As the woman held him, the boy fought constantly to get out of her grasp. "A family, reunited.." He looked back to his page, then typed, "another happy ending."

The detective let out a heavy sigh, leaning back into his chair as he looked out the window. "And yet, somehow I can't shake the feeling that our work is not yet over." His eyes darted across the room, looking to the rack of hats on the far wall of the agency's lobby. His gaze focused on a white hat adorned by a black stripe. The hat of his late boss, Sokichi Narumi. "Boss…" he muttered to himself, "if you were here, would you tell me otherwise? I wonder…"

Shotaro was pulled from his thoughts when he felt a sharp tug at his leg, looking down to see the boy who was previously in the woman's lap looking at him with a wide smirk. With both of his hands, he began climbing up Shotaro's leg until he was in his lap.

"Daddy!" cheered the small boy as he threw his arms around Shotaro.

"Hehe hey!" Shotaro chuckled as he scooped up the boy, getting up on his seat, "where do you think you're going in such a hurry, Wild Boy?"

"Sorry darling! He got away from me," the woman ran in, glaring at the boy, "Naota! Leave your father alone, he needs to work."

Shotaro grinned at the woman, taking her by the hand. "Rita, it's alright," he said, giving the woman before her a gentle kiss, "I was just finishing up. I'd say it's about time I take a break for the day anyway, and spend time with my two favorite people." He said before giving his son a kiss on the forehead.

"Oh, well good," Rita laughed then blushed, "I wasn't sure if I could keep him occupied any longer. He loves you, you know."

"Yes, I do," Shotaro said, pulling Rita in close and placing his forehead against hers. "Just give me a moment," he passed Naota off to Rita, "I need to tell Philip we're heading out for a bit."

"Of course," Rita nodded, taking Naoto from Shotaro as the half boiled detective jogged over to the door to the garage. Naota began to whimper, reaching out for Shotaro as he rushed away. "Hey, it's alright," Rita cooed, patting the boy on the head and guiding his gaze over to her, "Daddy is going to be right back, okay?" With her thumb, she wiped the tears away from his eyes.

The boy sniffled, then nodded, "Okay…" he muttered.

Shotaro, with a grin, took one last look towards Rita and Naota then opened the door and headed through it.

"Hey, Philip!" Shotaro called out into the garage. His moment of bliss was cut short by a book flying at his head, the detective just barely ducking into time to dodge it. He stared at the book, raising a brow in confusion as he looked over to his partner who was frantically pulling books off of a shelf, flipping through them before tossing them over his shoulder. "Hey, Philip!" Shotaro repeated, walking up to his partner and grabbing him by the shoulder, "What's going-"

He was cut off by Philip whipping his head around to his partner and barking, "I'm shut out!" he said with a devastated look on his face.

Shotaro stared at him, his eyes widening as he clued into what his partner was saying. "Shut out?.. You mean?"

Philip frantically nodded, grabbing his face with one of his hands and beginning to pull at his hair, "I can't access the planet's bookshelf anymore… and I don't know why…" Philip collapsed, falling to his knees and releasing his book from his hands. "Shotaro…" he whimpered, "what's happening?"

"I… I don't know.." Shotaro admitted. "But," he placed a firm hand on his partner's shoulder, "I know we'll figure this out together. We are still partners afterall... right?"

Philip's quivered halted, the frail looking man turning his head up to meet his partner's gaze. Before he could say a single word however, Philip noticed a violet portal begin to open up over Shotaro's shoulder and the blade arm of the Shredder dopant begin to reach out towards the half-boiled detective.

"Shotaro!" Philip cried out, pointing over to behind Shotaro.

Shotaro gasped, grabbing the arm of the dopant and pulling him out of the portal and throwing him over his shoulder and hurling Shredder onto the ground below the rafters.

"A dopant?" Philip questioned, rising to his feet and standing shoulder to shoulder with Shotaro, "But how did it get here?"

"It doesn't matter how it got here," Shotaro smirked, looking to his partner and holding up the W Driver with one of his hands, "we'll handle it, just as we always have."

{Insert Battle Theme: W-B-X ~ "W-Boiled Extreme" by Aya Kamiki}

"So let's go, Philip," Shotaro said, slapping the W Driver onto his waist as a second appeared around his partner's.

Shotaro then pulled out a black gaia memory marked with a purple J, and struck the activation button, "JOKA!"

"Okay, Shotaro," Philip managed a grin, pulling out his own green gaia memory marked with a matching C. He struck his own memory's activation button, "CYCLONE!"

The pair crossed their gaia memory barring hands over their chests, "Henshin!" they cried out in unison. Philip then placed his gaia memory into the right slot of his driver, it dissolving into data before reappearing in the right slot of Shotaro's driver. Philip's eyes then closed, the thin male falling to the ground as Shotaro placed his Joker memory into the left slot of his own driver and split the twin slots apart.

"CYCLONE! JOKA!" roared the driver as the green and black armor of Kamen Rider W formed around Shotaro.

"Shotaro, we should finish him quick," Philip called out, the right eye of W lighting up as Philip spoke. "He may not be acting alone."

"Aye, Philip," Shotaro spoke as Shredder clawed back up to his feet and snarled at the two in one kamen rider.

Shredder balled his hands into fists, letting out a roar as he bared his claws at the rider before him. W, meanwhile, lept forward then down with a punch that struck Shredder in the face forcing him to stumble back a few feet.

From where W knelt from the punch, Shredder glared at them and readied his claws for another attack only for the combined rider to leap into a flying roundhouse which they used to flow into a flurry of punches which threw him into the back wall.

"Let's get him out of here," Philip suggested, the two closing the driver and pulling out their Cyclone and Joker memories.

"Aye," Shotaro nodded, the pair bringing out a second pair of memories and striking their respective activation buttons.

"LUNA! TORIGA!" Yelled the memories, W placed them into their driver before resetting it. "LUNA! TORIGA!" Yelled the driver as the green portion of W's armor became yellow and the black portion became blue with the Trigger Magnum fixed to the chest. W ripped the magnum off their body, gripping it in their yellow right hand before firing off a barrage of shots that they were able to curve to their will.

Moments later, Shredder was shot out from the garage and into a nearby alley. As Shredder landed into a stack of garbage cans, W twirled the magnum in his hand before placing it back onto their chest.

"Let's finish this," Shotaro said, closing the driver once again and using his hand of W to bring out a silver colored memory, "this is the best attack for him."

"METARU!" cried the memory as Shotaro struck its activation button, the left half of W replacing the memory in his side of the driver with the one he held.

Philip nodded, bringing out a red memory and striking its own activation button, "HEATO!" Cried the memory as Philip replaced Luna with Heat, the pair splitting the driver apart once again.

"HEATO! METARU!" Roared the driver, the yellow of Luna being overtaken by the burning red of Heat and the cold blue of Trigger being switched out for the steel silver of Metal. The Metal Shaft appeared on the back just in time for W to grab it and extend the pole weapon with a twirl of their wrist.

"This clinches it," Shotaro said, pulling the Metal memory from his driver and slamming it into the maximum driver slot on the Metal Shaft.

"METARU! MAXIMUM DRIVE!" Roared the memory as the combined rider held out their weapon parallel to the ground as fire rushed over both ends of it.

W charged towards Shredder, "METAL BRANDING!" the pair cried out as they swung the burning Metal Shaft across Shredder's chest.

As the attack hit him, Shredder let out a roar as the memory inside him shattered, his dopant form exploding to bits as a result. Once the dust cleared, Shotaro retracted the metal shaft and threw it over his shoulder before closing the driver and pulling out his memories which reverted him to his civilian form.

{End fight theme}

"Alright, now let's get to the bottom of this," he turned around to find Greg Walker in a grey prison jumpsuit laying knocked out on the ground. "Knocked out?" he questioned, kneeling down to read what was written on Greg's jumpsuit, "Ardent City Prison…" he brought his hand to his chin, "Ardent City?"

In an open and luxurious office at the top of a very tall building, Kogami stood in a red suit decorating a cake on his desk as a melody played from an antique record player.

"Happy birthday to you," he sung as he adorned the cake with white frosting, "happy birthday to you," he continued, placing green grapes along the right side of the cake and purple ones along the left. "Happy birthday! Happy birthday!"

He did not get to finish his song however as a knock came to the front door. He looked down to the cake in front of him, then reached for his record player and removed the needle from its place on the track

"Come in," he said with a huff.

The door opened, and his secretary Satonaka came in. "Sorry to bother you Mr Kougami, sir. You have a visitor."

"I am busy, Satonaka," Kougami told her, giving her a stern look, "tell them to come back later."

"I did, sir," Satonaka returned, "but he says its urgent."

"Fine," he sighed, turning on his heel to face the door, "send him in."

Satonaka bowed her head then left the room. Moments later, she came back with a man wearing a long brown trench coat, a matching hat and glasses. His face gave off a look of desperation.

"Narutaki?" Kougami questioned, cocking a brow up at him, "What are you doing here?"

"The Heisei riders, the ones of this world at least, have vanished," he told him directly. "Those outside it meanwhile," he shook his head, "they cannot enter."

Kougami's gaze narrowed upon Narutaki, "What?"

"Please! I need your help, they all need your help!" Narutaki pleaded as he stepped forward. "Something is coming, and we'll need all of them to defeat it."

Kougami stared at Narutaki for a good long while in silence. Then, with a sigh, he looked to his secretary.

"Satonaka," he spoke calmly, "take Narutaki to Ms Anna… If anyone can fix this, its her."

"Ms Anna?" Narutaki questioned.

Kougami nodded, "She is one of our top scientists. However, she is currently involved with the right half of Kamen Rider W." He narrowed his gaze upon Narutaki, "tread carefully when speaking with her. Is that clear?"

Narutaki simply nodded, Satonaka heading to the door. "I'll take you to her," she told Narutaki, motioning towards herself for him to follow.

Narutaki and Satonaka left the room, Kougami looking back to the cake on his desk. "Happy birthday dear…" he sang once again, this time in a somber tone as he picked up a silver W and placed it in the center of the cake. "Kamen Rider… W." He reached over to the record player and placed the needle back onto its track, the music starting up right where it left off. Kougami then put his arms out to either side of him, "Happy birthday to you!"

Back at the Narumi Detective Agency, Ryu Terui stood by the window on the phone. Meanwhile, Philip and Shotaro sat on a chair of their own. In front of them on the couch sat Rita holding Naota beside Akiko who held a small girl with long brown hair.

"Aw man!" pouted Akiko as she ran a brush through her daughter's hair, "Why did a dopant have to show up now of all times? And on Naota and Haruna's play date."

"It couldn't be helped Akiko," Rita said with a sigh. She looked at the woman beside her and managed a smile, placing a comforting hand on Akiko's back and gently patting her. "Besides, we can always reschedule." She looked to her husband, "Right, Sho?"

"Yes," Shotaro nodded, forcing a grin of his own, "once this is all over Akiko, I promise."

Akiko shot a glare at Shotaro, then pointed a finger at him, "You'd better."

"Alright, thanks. We'll keep him here until this all evened out," Terui said into the phone, all eyes turning towards him. "Again, sorry to bother you. We'll be sending a specialist over to you to help out however they can, but keep in touch." He said before hanging up. With a sigh, Terui marched himself over to the others.

"So, you're going to this Ardent City?" Shotaro asked Terui.

Terui shook his head, "There have been some… similar incidences happening all over Japan." Terui told him, looking to his wife, "the Chief and I are going to look into as many as we can."

Akiko's eyes shot open as her jaw dropped, "You're sure?... Wouldn't I just be in the way?"

Terui shook his head, "I'll need to be calm during this case, and you're the only one who can help keep myself in check," he told his wife, patting on the head.

"Okay," Akiko managed a grin, "if you're sure."

Terui looked to Rita, "You don't mind looking after Haruna, do you?"

"Not at all," Rita grinned, eyeing the girl in Akiko's lap. "She and Naota were supposed to have a playdate, so that's what they're gonna get."

"Wait," Shotaro raised a hand, "so if you're staying here.. Who's going to Ardent City?"

"Is that not obvious, Shotaro?" Philip smirked, eyeing his partner. Shotaro looked to Philip, shaking his head. Philip snickered a bit, "We are."

**End of Prologue**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: The characters Zuri, Ayame, Fae, Rita and Anna belong to ElectricGreenLace. As they have never appeared in any published works, this is my one chance to honor them. With that being said, I hope you enjoy the rest of Connected Memories as its released. ~guncannon109**


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